1884
Year 1884 (MDCCCLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). Events of 1884 : Battle of Khartoum.]] January - March * January 4 - The Fabian Society is founded in London. * January 18 - Dr William Price attempts to cremate the body of his infant son, Iesu Grist (Jesus Christ) Price, setting a legal precedent for cremation in the UK. * February 1 - Edition one of the Oxford English Dictionary is published. * March 13 - The siege of Khartoum, Sudan begins (ends on January 26, 1885). April - June * April 22 - Colchester earthquake, England; the UK's most destructive. * May 1 - the first proclamation of eight-hour workday by the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions in the United States. May 1, called May Day or Labour Day, is now a holiday recognized in almost every industrialized country. * June 4 - Estonian flag is consecrated as the flag of the Estonian Students Society. July - September : Statue of Liberty begun.]] * July 5 - Germany takes possession of Cameroon. * July 23 - Today's Courier recorded the first tennis tournaments held in the grounds of Shrubland Hall, Leamington Spa, England. * August 5 - The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty is laid on Bedloe's Island in New York Harbor. * August 10 - A severe earthquake, magnitude 5.5, (intensity VII) occurs off the northeast Atlantic coast. The area affected extends from central Virginia to southern Maine, and west as far as Cleveland. * September 5 - Staten Island Academy is founded. October - December : US Naval War College founded.]] * October - International Meridian Conference in Washington fixes the Greenwich meridian as the world's prime meridian. * October 6 - United States Naval War College is established in Newport. * October 18 - University of Wales (UK) founded. * October 22 - The first woman receives a degree from an Irish university. The degree is granted by the Royal University of Ireland. * November 1 - The Irish Gaelic Athletic Association is founded in Thurles, Ireland. * November 2 - Timişoara is the first town of Europe with streets illuminated by electric light. * November 4 - United States presidential election: Democrat Grover Cleveland defeats Republican James G. Blaine in a very close contest to win the first of his non-consecutive terms. * November 15 - The Berlin Conference which regulated European colonisation and trade in Africa begins (ends February 26, 1885). * November 25 - British surgeon John Dooglee makes the first successful removal of a brain tumor. * December 1 - American Old West - Near Frisco, deputy sheriff Elfego Baca holds off a gang of 80 Texan cowboys who want to kill him for arresting cowboy Charles McCarthy (the cowboys were terrorizing the area's Hispanos and Baca was working against them). * December 6 - Washington Monument was completed. * December 16 - World Cotton Centennial World's Fair opens in New Orleans. Undated * Bechuanaland becomes British protectorate. * Stefan-Boltzmann law reformulated by Ludwig Boltzmann. * British Police officers go on armed patrol in London. * Mark Twain writes The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. * First ascent made of Castle Mountain by geologist Arthur Philemon Coleman. * The water hyacinth is introduced in the U.S. and quickly becomes an invasive species. * Parliamentarism is introduced in Norway. Births January - June * January 2 - Oscar Micheaux, American filmmaker and author (d. 1951) * January 12 - Texas Guinan, American vaudeville performer (d. 1933) * January 13 - Sophie Tucker, Russian-born singer and comedian (d. 1966) * January 21 - Roger Baldwin, American social activist (d. 1981) * January 23 - Ralph DePalma, Italian-born race car driver (d. 1956) * January 28 - Auguste Piccard, Swiss physicist, balloonist, and inventor (d. 1962) * January 31 - Theodor Heuss, German politician and publicist (d. 1963) * February 12 **Max Beckmann, German painter and graphic artist (d. 1950) **Marie Vassilieff, Russian artist (d. 1957) * February 13 - Alfred Carlton Gilbert, American athlete and inventor (d. 1961) * February 14 - Hezekiah M. Washburn, missionary (d. 1972) * February 16 - Robert J. Flaherty, American filmmaker (d. 1951) * February 18 - Andrew Watson Myles, Canadian politician (d. 1970) * February 22 - Abe Attell, American boxer (d. 1970) * March 13 - Sir Hugh Walpole, English novelist (d. 1941) * March 17 - Alcide Nunez, American jazz musician (d. 1934) * March 24 - Peter Debye, Dutch chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1966) * March 25 - Georges Imbert, Alsatian chemist (d. 1950) * March 26 - Wilhelm Backhaus, German pianist (d. 1969) * April 4 - Isoroku Yamamoto, Japanese naval commander (d. 1943) * April 6 - Walter Huston, actor (d. 1950) * April 12 - Otto Fritz Meyerhof, German-born physician and biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1951) * May 1 - Henry Norwest, Canadian World War I sniper (d. 1918) * May 8 - Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States (d. 1972) * May 10 - Olga Petrova, English-born actress (d. 1977) * May 14 - Claudius Dornier, German aircraft designer (d. 1969) * May 27 - Max Brod, Austrian author (d. 1968) * May 28 - Edvard Beneš, Austrian politician (d. 1948) July - December * July 12 - Amedeo Modigliani, Italian painter and sculptor (d. 1920) * July 15 - Phraya Manopakorn Nititada, Thailand's First Prime Minister (d. 1948) * July 18 - Alberto di Jorio, former head of the Vatican Bank and secretary of the 1958 conclave (d. 1979) * July 23 - Emil Jannings, Swiss actor (d. 1950) * August 8 - Sara Teasdale, American poet (d. 1933) * August 10 - Panait Istrati, Romanian writer (d. 1935) * August 23 - Will Cuppy, American humorist (d. 1949) * August 30 - Theodor Svedberg, Swedish chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971) * September 17 - Charles Tomlinson Griffes, American composer (d. 1920) * September 24 - İsmet İnönü, Turkish soldier, statesman and the second President of Turkey.(d. 1973) * September 24 - Hugo Schmeisser, German weapons designer (d. 1953) * October 7 - Major Harold Geiger, U.S. Army aviation pioneer (d. 1927) * October 11 - Friedrich Bergius, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1949) * October 11 - Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States (d. 1962) * November 20 - Norman Thomas, American social reformer (d. 1968) * December 3 - Walther Stampfli, member of the Swiss Federal Council (d. 1965) * December 30 - Tojo Hideki, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1948) *''date unknown'' **M. Louise Gross, American politician and lobbyist (d. 1951) **Richard Spikes, African American inventor (d.1962) : See also 1884 births. Deaths January - June * January 6 - Gregor Mendel, Czech geneticist (b. 1822) * January 25 - Johann Gottfried Piefke, German conductor and composer (b. 1815) * March 1 - Isaac Todhunter, English mathematician (b. 1820) * March 21 - Ezra Abbot, American Bible scholar (b. 1819) * April 4 - Marie Bashkirtseff, Russian artist (b. 1858) *April 6 - Emanuel Geibel, poet and dramatist (b. 1815) *April 24 - Marie Taglioni, ballerina (b. 1804) * May 12 - Bedřich Smetana, Czech composer (b. 1824) * May 13 - Cyrus McCormick, American inventor (b. 1809) * June 25 - Hans Rott, Austrian composer (b. 1858) July - December * July 1 - Allan Pinkerton, American detective (b. 1819) * July 10 - Paul Morphy, American chess player (b. 1837) *July 15 - Henry Wellesley, diplomat (b. 1804) *October 4 - Leona Florentino, Filipina poet (b. 1849) *October 18 - William VIII (b. 1806) * November 16 - František Chvostek, Moravian physician (b. 1835) * November 25 - Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe, German chemist (b. 1818) *December 20 - Domenico Consolini, Roman Catholic Cardinal (b. 1806) : See also 1884 deaths.